Anderson Jeep Extravaganza Ducky Day for a Good Cause
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Where there are Jeeps, there will be ducks.
Sitting in rows across dashboards, peering from cupholders, gathered near windshields and resting in the small, brightly colored colonies that Jeep owners have come to regard as both decoration and evidence of affection. They appeared Saturday amid polished wheels, lifted suspensions, trail-scuffed bumpers and windshields bearing the residue of long rides, long weekends and, in some cases, a devotion to dirt that was almost philosophical.
At the Anderson Christmas Lights Village, where winter is announced illuminated trees, glowing displays and holiday music, the 2026 Anderson Jeep Extravaganza transformed the grounds into a temporary republic of off-road vehicles and people who admire them. There were Jeep owners who had come to show their vehicles, Jeep owners who had come to compete for trophies, Jeep clubs, independent enthusiasts, families and supporters. There was also a larger purpose beneath the chrome and the duck collections: raising money for Anderson County Special Olympics athletes.
The extravaganza drew both on-road and off-road Jeep owners, local clubs and supporters for a day of fellowship, trophies and fundraising. The vehicles were the most conspicuous part of the event, but the cause was the reason the gathering mattered.
Dale Horn, the organizer of the Anderson Jeep Extravaganza, said this was the event’s second year and part of a relationship with Special Olympics that had already developed over two years.
“This is the second year we’ve held this event,” Horn said. “We partnered with Special Olympics last year — really, we have worked with them for two years and put on an event for them. Last year, we were part of Celebrate Anderson.”
The Jeep event is one expression of a larger charitable effort. Horn said the group’s work reaches beyond Special Olympics to children with special needs, Lives of Hope, Honors for Heroes, the Cancer Association of Anderson, military members and other people in need throughout the year.
In the Jeep world, a vehicle can be a hobby, a piece of engineering, an identity and an icebreaker. For Horn, it has also become a way to organize help.
“There are individuals who do not want to join a club but still participate,” he said. “You also have people who come just for the shows. If you look around, you’ll see some nice-looking Jeeps here.”
Horn’s own route into the Jeep community began after retirement, when he was looking for something to do with his time.
“I retired, and I’d had about three Jeeps in the past,” he said. “I was looking for something to do, so I bought another Jeep and joined a club. From there, we went on to start our own club.”
The appeal, he said, lies in the range of possible experiences. A Jeep can lead someone onto a trail or into a parade. It can bring people to a fundraiser or a vehicle show. It can turn a shared interest into a social calendar.
“It’s just a lot of fun,” Horn said. “We do fundraisers, parades and trail rides. There are so many different things you can do.”
The vehicles on display offered a rough taxonomy of the Jeep world. Some were designed to leave pavement behind: machines built for trails, mud, uneven ground and the occasional indignity of a recovery strap. Others had been kept in a more pristine state.
“You can look around at the Jeeps and see all the different kinds,” Horn said. “Some go on the trails, and some are what we call pavement princesses — they never see the dirt.”
The phrase is affectionate rather than accusatory. Jeep ownership contains many styles of devotion, from the person who wants to climb a trail to the person who wants a polished vehicle to enter in a show. The extravaganza made room for both.
Among Saturday’s participants was Jeff Thompson of Easley, a member of the newly formed Durty Ducks Jeep Club. The group marked its one-month anniversary at the event and had about 30 members, Thompson said, drawn from Greenville, Anderson and Laurens counties.
“We have about 30 members so far, with people from Greenville, Anderson and Laurens counties,” Thompson said. “We’ve all come together because we enjoy Jeeps, family fun and helping the community.”
Thompson has owned Jeeps for years. For him, the club offered a way to combine an old interest with the company of people who understood it without explanation.
“It’s a good family activity because people share the same interests,” Thompson said. “We like to take part in benefits and help any way we can, especially for children and people who are going through difficult times.”
“You get the benefit of enjoying your Jeep, and then the community benefits, too,” he said.
The club itself is part of the appeal. Jeep owners meet people through the road, the trail, the show field and the charity event. A person who begins by noticing another person’s vehicle may discover a community of people willing to drive in a parade, organize a fundraiser, bring a Jeep to a trunk-or-treat or spend a Saturday helping someone they have never met.
“You meet different people who think like you do and whom you may never have met otherwise, unless you were on a trail or at a show,” Thompson said.
The Durty Ducks, like many Jeep groups, have built a family-centered identity around those encounters. Children are not merely spectators at the events; they are participants in one of the culture’s most recognizable customs.
The Jeep tradition known as ducking began with a small gesture and grew into a language of its own.
“A woman started the ducking tradition several years ago,” Thompson said. “She has since passed away, but the idea took off and exploded.”
The practice is simple. A person sees a Jeep they admire and leaves a small rubber duck on it. It is not a prize in the ordinary sense, nor is it an official recognition. It is a compliment, a signal of belonging and sometimes an invitation to conversation.
“If you really like someone’s Jeep, you duck it,” Thompson said.
The ducks, often displayed across dashboards, have become a visible record of a vehicle’s social life. A Jeep with one duck may have received a passing compliment. A Jeep with dozens may tell a larger story about shows, trails, friendships and gatherings.
“If you see a Jeep with a lot of ducks, that usually means a lot of people like that Jeep,” Thompson said.
The practice is especially popular with children. The Durty Ducks include families and a junior club whose younger members choose Jeeps to “duck” at gatherings.
“Kids especially enjoy it,” Thompson said. “We have grandkids and a junior club, and they go around ducking the Jeeps they like. We try to be family oriented.”
The ducks are not merely ornaments. They are evidence that the Jeep community has invented a way to make a machine feel social.
The event’s central beneficiary, Anderson County Special Olympics, provides 13 year-round sports and activities for local athletes. Its programming extends beyond the athletic calendar to include a beauty pageant, the Come Dream with Me Prom, a trunk-or-treat and a Christmas party, according to Tessa Hilly of Anderson County Special Olympics.
The money raised through the Jeep Extravaganza will help the organization buy sports uniforms and send athletes to competitions outside South Carolina.
“This event will help us buy uniforms for our sports programs and help our athletes travel to out-of-state competitions,” Hilly said. “This will be very beneficial for our athletes.”
Such support can determine whether an athlete has the equipment, transportation and chaperone support necessary to compete. It can also sustain the broader social life around the games: parties, dances, seasonal events and gatherings that create opportunities for athletes and families to be together.
Hilly said people who could not attend the Jeep event could still support Anderson County Special Olympics through donations and volunteer work.
“We have a Facebook page where people can find information about us and donate,” Hilly said. “We love volunteers, too.”
“We can always use volunteers for our events,” she said. “We are always looking for chaperones when we travel out of town, and it is very simple to become one. You just have to complete a Class A volunteer form.”
Volunteers can set up themed tables and hand out candy at the trunk-or-treat. They can serve food at the Christmas party. They can come dance with athletes. They can also do the less glamorous but essential work of accompanying athletes to competitions away from home.
At Fort Jackson, for example, athletes and volunteers stay in barracks during some travel competitions. The events require chaperones willing to spend a weekend away, keep schedules, provide support and make sure athletes can take part fully in the experience.
Anderson County Special Olympics participates in flag football, softball and bowling, among other sports.
“It is a fun day of competition,” Hilly said. “We have flag football, softball and bowling. We do a lot of fun sports.”
Sports are important. Travel is important. But the day’s larger purpose is inclusion: creating conditions in which athletes can show up with the right uniform, a way to get there and enough adult support to participate.
The event took place at the Christmas Village at Anderson Christmas Lights; a property built around the peculiar transformation of ordinary landscape into a seasonal destination. During the holiday season, its purpose is obvious. At the Jeep Extravaganza, it became a setting for Jeeps, food, fundraising and an August reminder that public gathering places do not have to sit empty outside their most famous season.
Ben Phillips, executive director of Anderson Christmas Lights, said the property is intended to support community events throughout the year.
“A lot of people just think us at Christmas time,” said Phillips. “Well, the village is here, so why not let the community use it? So, if you're a non-profit organization, you want to have a fundraiser, contact us.”
The invitation is practical. The village exists. The space can hold people. A nonprofit may need a place to gather, raise money, stage an event or simply bring a community together around an idea.
Phillips is already working on holiday displays for the coming season, including new additions. The public’s first chance to see the expanded lights display will come on Thanksgiving night. The display will remain open through Christmas Day.
For one day, though, the lights village belonged to Jeeps. It belonged to lifted vehicles and polished vehicles, to trail rigs and pavement princesses, to parents and children carrying rubber ducks, to club members and independent owners, and to athletes whose uniforms and trips may be made possible by the day’s fundraising.
